Yesterday
considerable excitement pervaded the whole army, in consequence of the
sudden appearance in the river above of three gunboats and two smaller
craft. At first it was suppose the time for the long looked for descent
had arrived, and the impending conflict was at hand, as appearances
would seem to indicate the remainder of the great armada was coming up
in the rear. In an instant almost all our batteries were manned and
ready for that trial of strength which must, sooner or later, decide the
fate of the Mississippi valley, and put at rest for ever, I hope, the
apprehensions of our citizens along the “great river” below. It was
soon apparent, however, that the object of the expedition was merely to
reconnoiter, if possible, the position of our submarine batteries,
infernal machines, etc., etc., preparatory, perhaps, to a descent to be
made hereafter. The little Grampus was immediately dispatched up
the river to keep a sharp look-out upon their movements, and ascertain
the real object of their visit. She soon returned, and reported that no
demonstrations had been made towards landing troops on the Missouri
side, consequently our hopes of a brush with the Yankee rascals
considerably diminished; and when, at length, they turned their bows
towards Cairo and slowly passed out of sight, we gave it up entirely for
the present, and disappointedly returned to our quarters, to find in the
varied amusements of the camp some respite from the ennui and
apathy of our inactive life.

When
they will pay us another visit, we, of course, cannot tell, but it is
the opinion of our commanders that such an interesting event may occur
at any time, hence, all leaves of absence and furloughs are entirely
interdicted, except in the most urgent cases, and then a written
petition has to be made to the commander-in-chief in person.

Our
defenses are about completed, save case-mating the river batteries,
which I learn is in progress—and wholly considered, present an array
of strength truly formidable. Columbus may be taken, but there is no
Yankee army now in the field formidable enough to do it, so the good
people of Memphis may rest assured that the only Yankee they will have
an opportunity of seeing in that fair city soon, will consist in the
prisoners and wounded sent down to them by their friends from here,
should they come on and give us the chance.

-----

From
Mexico.

The
Evacuation of Vera Cruz.—The Spanish squadron (says a New York
dispatch of the 7th) took possession of San Juan d’Ulloa on
the 16th of December. Vera Cruz was evacuated by the Mexican
troops next day. They retired without firing a gun. Letters received
from Havana say that Santa Anna and Miramon are both to go to Mexico.
Gen. Prim was at Havana, and was about to leave for Mexico with
reinforcements.

The
Havana Diaro states that the Governor of Vera Cruz was willing to
evacuate the city, but demanded and received a respite of twenty-four
hours. The Spanish general, on landing, issued a proclamation to the
troops, and another to the people, the latter to the effect that the
troops had come hither only to demand satisfaction for the failure of
treaties and violence committed against their compatriots, and to obtain
guarantees against similar outrages. The greatest satisfaction of the
army would be, after fulfilling its mission from the queen, to return to
its own country with the certainty of having merited the affections of
the Mexicans. Nearly one hundred rifled cannon of the latest pattern
were found in San Juan.

Savannah
Harbor Spared.—Our Richmond exchanges have the subjoined
paragraph, taken from the Port Royal correspondent of a northern paper:

“It
has been definitely settled that the stone fleet is not to be sunk in
the Savannah harbor, Our possession of Tybee island and Cockspur harbor
gives us perfect control of the main entrance to Savannah, and
hermetically seals it. One object in sinking the hulks has, therefore,
passed away, and that, together with other reasons equally as cogent,
brought about an entire change in the disposition of the fleet. Some of
them will, doubtless, be sunk in some of the small rivers leading into
the Savannah river navigable to small craft—such as carry on the
illicit commerce between Nassau and the south, and thus blockade that
pretty English game; and some, the more worthless, have already been
beached on Tybee island, to form a breakwater, and hereafter a wharf;
but the greater portion will go north of Tybee, and perform their part
in the wiping out of the port of Charleston. This work will be commenced
in less than ten days, if the weather is propitious, and then we shall
see what we shall see.”

-----

Departure
of a Distinguished Yankee.—We learn that Dr. King, the Rhode
Island great man, after having so bountifully partaken of the
hospitalities of our home toadies and traitors, and after having
patrolled Richmond and sneaked into all the offices of the government,
took his departure yesterday for the north, under a flag of truce from
Norfolk. The doctor was accompanied by his family, including, we
believe, his “interesting” son, who was taken prisoner at Manassas.
No doubt the doctor caries an interesting budget of information. His
departure, we fear, will prove an inconsiderable loss to the many male
and female friends he made in Richmond, who have proved their social
value in the community by their fondness for the dirt and abolitionism
of “the best New England society.”—Richmond Examiner, 4th.

-----

From
the Savannah Republican of the 7th we copy the annexed
paragraphs:

The
impression is becoming very general in our community that the Federals
withdrew from Port Royal Ferry with the view of attacking the defences
of Savannah in force. It was a singular movement, to say the least.
After so bold a venture on the main-land, everybody expected them to
make an energetic effort for the railroad, which they, perhaps, could
have reached after hard fighting.

Gens.
Lee and Lawton visited Fort Pulaski yesterday, to inspect the new
interior works just completed. Everything, we learn, is in perfect order
and prepared to resist the entire Lincoln navy, should it be brought to
bear against it.

The
Federals are busily employed in erecting heavy guns on Tybee; four, we
hear, have been placed in position on the Martello tower, and perhaps
others erected on the earthworks that were abandoned by our troops.

The
Federal gunboat that went ashore in Calibogue sound, a few days ago, has
been got off.

The
Republican of the 6th states that the enemy were preparing to
sink the stone fleet at the entrance of Savannah harbor.

MONDAYJANUARY 13, 1862THE
BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER

The
Canadian Reciprocity Act.

It
seems especially undesirable that there should be a disturbance of the
relations between us and our nearest neighbors. If heretofore it has
been important that intimate and friendly intercourse should be
encouraged, it is not now the time to change our policy, while our
success in suppressing the rebellion depends upon the ability of the
north to supply the needful means, we cannot afford to lose a trade
which has contributed so much to our prosperity as that of the Canadas
and Provinces.

The
business which has grown up in consequence of the reciprocity act, is of
great importance to our whole community. Since its adoption, the
Canadian and Provincial merchants have relied upon us for a supply of
various articles which can be had from us cheaper than from England.
This business has grown larger every year as our mutual acquaintance has
increased, until it has become a simple question of “cost when
delivered,” which has decided whether orders should go to England or
the States. As a result, our manufacturers have made more goods, our
merchants have had more business, and our railroads carried more
freight. Thus, a large amount of money has been circulated among various
classes of our people, which formerly was circulated in Great Britain.
The Canadian and Provincial merchants require large quantities of goods
and they are obtained from us or from England. We can continue to
cultivate the business or we can drive it entirely away. If, however, by
any legislation, we should destroy the friendly relations already
existing and ruin the business which it has cost time and money to
establish, we should thereby only increase the gains of Great Britain
and afford her manufacturers the greatest satisfaction at our own
expense.

In
the provinces almost every country trader owns or controls his coasting
vessel. Several times a year these are laden with fish, lumber, wood,
potatoes, coal, &c, and are sent to us. The proceeds of the cargoes
are expended in purchasing a return freight, and our dealers in
hardware, dry goods, medicines, boots and shoes, groceries, &c.,
fill the vessel. Such operations are not few or occasional, but
constantly, frequently ten or fifteen such vessels clear in one day, and
carry the results of our labor to every eastern port. Of course we do
not wish to discourage this traffic; every individual in the community
has a share in its benefits.

Aside
from the pecuniary advantages of this treaty, it is no small thing that
it tends to bind together those that are in so many respects as one
people. By it we invite friendship and good feeling, and our institution
are becoming both understood and appreciated through its workings. A
more severe blow to the business and laboring interests of the North
could not well be given than the repeal of this act. While deprived of
the friendship and business intercourse of our former Southern friends,
we should certainly avoid causing unkind feelings with our neighbors on
the north and east.

Regulars
and Volunteers.—Russell, in a recent letter to the London Times,
makes the following remarks on a body of regulars which he witnessed at
Washington:

“It
is true, as compared with the average volunteer reviews, there was
reason to place the regulars in high position, and the jealousy which
exists on the part of the people towards a regular force had its
exponent in the way in which some journals spoke of the occasion and its
incidents. But, after all, volunteer regiments here would march as well
if not better; the men were not so fine personally, their movements were
loose without being active. Nevertheless, any one accustomed to
soldiering, while finding fault with many things, judged by a European
standard, would infinitely prefer risking an engagement with such a
force opposed to equal numbers to taking three times as many volunteers
into the field against the same enemy. The difference lay in the
officers, in the readiness of the men, and the air and serviceable look
of the troops as they marched past. As they took ground to the left or
right there was no noise in the ranks of the advancing sections. The
artillery were clean and neat; the cavalry had no wild abandon of
hair and open collars, though deficient in straps and setting up; the
infantry wore gloves and buttoned their coats.”

-----

An
Advance.—If we were to undertake to count the Monday mornings on
which it has seemed that Saturday might bring some important news, we
should soon get into higher numbers than we care to venture among.With all this warning experience, we must still say, that it
does not seem possible for this week to pass without bringing us to some
decisive event. Burnside's expedition has begun to move, and appears to
be organized on the scale far superior to what was at first expected.The Mississippi flotilla has also begun to move, and appears
to promise success, so far as ample provision in the way of iron-clad
boats and heavy rifled guns can be depended upon.General Buell is reported to have finished his bridge across the
Green River in the Kentucky, and is now threatening an advance.

It
is beginning to be felt that these great movements have been timed with
reference to each other, but their plan is not yet understood.The destination of Burnside's expedition is in fact, a
well-kept secret yet.It is
generally supposed to be destined for one of the Virginia rivers, where
it can no doubt plant and effective blow.Some mysterious hints have been dropped, however, which seemed to
intimate that it may be destined for Wilmington.But the hints come from correspondents, who are probably as wise
as the rest of the world, and no wiser.As for the Mississippi expedition, Columbus is supposed to be its
immediate a destination, although the boats are up "for Memphis and
New Orleans." Taking these matters in connection with Buell's
position, it would appear that the rebels are likely to have their hands
full in every quarter before many days, and very likely before this week
ends.

We
must now wait therefore for what the fortune of war may send.That the result will be a crushing defeat of the rebellion we
cannot doubt; the preparation appears to be complete, the force ample,
and the plan, so far as it can be guessed that, well laid.But let no one forgets that in war chance effects as much as
strength or skill, and that we must not be disheartened, if the general
success is checquered by losses and minor reverses, which may at times
cast a fleeting shadow upon our hopes.

TUESDAYJANUARY 14, 1862THE
HARTFORD DAILY COURANT (CT)

RESIGNATION
OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.APPOINTMENT OF HIS SUCCESSOR.
Cameron Appointed Minister to Russia.

Washington,
Jan. 13.--A report is circulating around the capitol and believed,
that Cameron has resigned as Secretary of War, and that Edward M.
Stanton will take his place, and Cameron will be appointed Minister to
Russia.

LATER

Our
present relations with Europe are deemed highly important and
interesting, and as Russia seems to be a strong friendly power, the
president was anxious that some one should act is Minister to the Court
of St. Petersburg in whom he has entire confidence, who can ably and
fairly represent his views and aid our cause in Europe.

Gen.
Cameron accepted the office of Secretary of War with great reluctance,
preferring to retain his seat in the Senate, and has always made clear
his intention to vacate the place when the interests of the country
should allow, and he could have a proper successor.

The
gentleman selected, Edward M. Stanton, is a warm personal friend, is
from his own State, and has accepted the position at the latter's
solicitation.Mr. Stanton,
it will be recollected, was Attorney General for the conclusion of Mr.
Buchanan's administration.In
taking the position he sacrifices an immense private business to serve
his country.The
appointment is popular, as it is generally conceded that he is a man of
sterling integrity, without any political affiliations to trammel his
actions in any case which may come under his supervision, while he will
prove an able counselor in the Cabinet, and the most valuable officer in
his department.

The
friends of the Gen. Cameron claimed that he can well afford to lay aside
his exhausting labors, having accomplished so much in the organization
and equipment of the largest army ever assembled on the American
continent.

The
nominations were sent to the Senate to-day by the President.They were, as is customary, referred to the appropriate
committee, and will be acted upon in the executive session to-morrow.The change in the Cabinet creates much sensation.

-----

The
Burnside Expedition.Departure from Fortress Monroe.

Fortress
Monroe, Jan. 12.--Most of the vessels composing the Burnside Expedition
left very quietly at intervals during last night.Others left during teh forenoon, to-day, including a large fleet
of schooners which have been here for some time.The transport New York did not leave till 11, to-day, and the
transport Louisiana and New Brunswick are still here this P.M.A number of schooners and several gunboats, said to form part
of the expedition, are still in port.

-----

The
aggregate of Union soldiers, and of the estimated number of rebels,
enlisted in the war, shows that the loyal states have furnished one
soldier on the average to every thirty-seven inhabitants, and the rebel
states one to every thirty-three, nearly.The disparity will be lessened when the navy of the North is
taking into account in as having drawn 25,000 sailors from the loyal
states.This computation
does not include the States that are divided in sentiment.For them the result is as follows: Virginia has one and 1 in 125
for the government, and one and nineteen for the rebels; Maryland one in
105 for the government, and one in 243 for the rebels; Kentucky one in
seventy-seven for the government, and one in 115 for the rebels;
Missouri one in thirty-eight for the government, and one in 235 for the
rebels.This makes an
average of the divided states of one in every eighty-six inhabitants for
the government, and one in 152 for the rebels, or we might draw the
conclusion that in the states about two-thirds of the population are
loyal, not including those who are lukewarmly in favor of the Union, but
do not wish to fight against the South.

Hints
to the Ladies.--Such monstrosities, intended for shirts, drawers,
stockings and mittens for soldiers, occasionally come before the
Sanitary Commission, as make the judicious laugh till the tears come.Miss Hannah Stephenson has been months in attendance upon the
soldiers, and she ought to know what is wanted.To her we are indebted for the following:

I.First, last, and always, let me ask you not to make any peculiar
shirt.Such a shirt as your
father, brother, husband or son daily wears is the shirt for the
soldier.Men are not so
fond of the change of cuts in their garments as women, and are annoyed
by being obliged to wear something to which they are unaccustomed.We all know the recognized, normal shirt; with its plain, buttoned
collar, sleeves gathered into a buttoned wristband; length proportioned
to the wearer, but not too long to wear under the trousers; the hospital
patient, in alternately lying in the bed and moving about, cannot have
the variety of shirts which home comfort allows. “Please let me have a
short shirt,” is the most frequent request I have heard during
the five months I have spent in the army hospitals. It has been painful
to open boxes and bundles, and take out such supplies of nicely made
shirts and drawers, where the heart went in to every stitch, but which
could fit no living mortal, so gigantically had the good cloth been
wasted in length and breadth.

II.
Every open sleeve with its rows of tape strings is needless; for the
moment’s exigency, the moment’s cut or tear is made, and must be. I
have seen the fevered patients distressed with trying to keep near the
hand the long, loose sleeve which would slip above the elbow,
while they searched in vain for the accustomed button.

III.
A human-shaped leg, instead of those enormous unshaplinesses, which the
boys rather go without than wear, are desirable. “Please let me have a
short shirt andcommon
shaped drawers,” I repeat to you as the sick boys’ petition. Woolen
shirts and woolen drawers, the latter especially, are much needed, even
now, in the hospitals.

IV.
Bed sackings, whether made of ticking or stout cotton, should always be
open in the middle, instead of the end, and with two pair of strings,
thus securing the straw, and allowing a daily shaking about. Those open
at one end are a nuisance in the ward.

V.
Home-made pickles—that is the water in the desert—every New England
boy relishes a pickle, and for the convalescent it is sometimes the one
thing needful. But whatever you send of the fluid kind, jelly or
pickles, calculate that the package will be turned upside down, and like
as not, be used as a foot-ball, before it reaches the sick.

VI.
Woolen undershirts, buttoning close to the throat, protecting the chest,
are wanted, and will continue to be wanted.

VII.
Be not afraid to overstock the wants of the army; if some regiments and
hospitals are well supplied, there are others still destitute.

-----

Capture
of Schooners.

Washington,
Jan. 13.--The Navy Department has received a report from Com. Dupont
has to the running ashore and burning of the British schooner Prince
of Wales by the bark Gem of the Seas, and the capture of the
Island Belle by the Augusta.The latter, formerly the Gen. Ripley of Charleston, was
sent to New York.The
boat's crew of the gunboat attempted to save the [former] from the fire
set by her crew, but a fire of musketry on the shore obliged them to
leave her after kindling good fires aboard.None of our men were injured.There is no doubt that that she and her cargo are hopelessly
ruined.

-----

Bad
Roads in Virginia.--The weather which has been remarkably
disagreeable for the last few days, has seriously affected travel, both
in the city and over the river.I
am told that it is impossible to do anything in the way of moving the
army at present, owing to the miserable condition of the roads on the
other side of the Potomac.

WEDNESDAYJANUARY 15,
1862NEW
HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT & STATE GAZETTE

Butler’s
Expedition.—The troops which we dispatched last week from Boston
to reinforce Butler’s expedition at Ship Island, did not sail. After
they were on board the ship and all ready to start, orders came from
Washington to delay their departure; and after remaining nearly a week
on board, in the harbor, they were landed and have gone into camp,
again. It is supposed the Government is waiting for news from England,
which will determine whether these troops go South or remain to defend
our own soil.

P.S.
The troops re-embarked on Sunday, under orders from Washington, and
sailed on Monday in the big steamer Constitution.

-----

$50,000,000
Squandered.—The following is an extract from a recent speech of
Mr. Fessenden of Maine, a Republican Senator. When such a man as Mr. F.
talks thus and exposes such a wicked waste of public money, honest men
will think there must be something very wrong and very rotten in the
management of the War Department. Mr. F. said:

“From
the beginning of this contest, the spirit manifested by Congress and by
the Executive appears to have been to see who could talk loudest about
the largest amount of money to be spent, as if that would accomplish the
purpose.I warn Senators
that we must begin somewhere in the work of retrenchment, and begin
speedily; and for my part, I mean to begin at the very first point that
presents itself to economize the public money, or we shall soon be in a
position where we shall have no money to economize upon.

Look,
for instance, at one example of the manner in which things are managed.The government of the army started with the idea that we wanted
to know cavalry.Pretty
soon they came to the conclusion that we did want cavalry, and they gave
notice of that fact; and without counting what was to be the end of it,
and what it was to come to, they allowed every man who offered to do so
to raise a regiment of cavalry.A
regiment of cavalry costs something.It costs about double what a regiment of infantry costs, and
perhaps more than double.I
presume it costs $1,500,000 a year.I was informed by a man who knew all about it--because he is one
of the very highest military man--that ten thousand cavalry were all we
could use, or twenty thousand at the outside; and how many have we
to-day?We have 60
regiments of cavalry either raised or in process of being raised, and
most of them, as my friend from Iowa suggests, are regiments of 1200 men
each.There is very little
use for them.The
Government can do nothing with them.They are not even armed, and we have no arms for a very large
proportion of them; and yet they are raised, and the men are paid, and
the horses are bought and supported by the Government.Many of these regiments are coming here, and others are on their
way here.There is no
provision for them; no service to be required of them when they come
here.There is at least
$50,000,000 to be spent four cavalry, for which the men who control the
army say they have no use, and all because nobody inquired in the first
place, how many were necessary."

As
a further illustration of the reckless and criminal waste of public
money, we have the fact upon Republican authority that the Regimental
Bands of the army are costing at the rate of six million dollars per
year. "That's the way the money goes."

-----

Small
Pox in Washington.--The N.Y. World of the 9th, learns from
one of its most trustworthy correspondence that there are over four
hundred cases of small pox among the civilians in Washington.Also the best physicians of the city make the same statement.

The
Slaves.--The Port Royal correspondent of the Manchester Mirror
rights that Mr. D. M. Robinson has a large number of slaves under his
charge, near Beaufort, ginning cotton. "They are to be paid,"
he says, "eight dollars per month for their work, and have the same
rations furnish them as are given to all our troops.Some of these fellows were very well, but generally they are on
the watch to escape the eye of the overseer, and be off out the way of
all work.Paid seems to be no inducement.They are born slaves, are ignorant and indolent, and the
philanthropist will have a broad field to work in to bring them to a
proper state of industry."

-----

Great
Union Victory.

Simon
Cameron, Secretary of War, has been driven from office, and sent into
exile as Minister to Russia! This is a great Union victory, far more
important to the Union cause than would be the defeat of the rebel army
at Manassas. Edward M. Stanton of Pennsylvania has been appointed to
succeed Cameron. He was Attorney General during the latter days of the
Buchanan administration. Cassius M. Clay, the present Minister to
Russia, is to be appointed to a command in the army.

-----

Freedom
of the Press.--The U.S. Constitution declares that Congress shall
make no law abridging the freedom of the press; but military officers
are above the constitution.The
Provost Marshal of St. Louis has issued an order requiring all
publishers of newspapers in the state of Missouri, St. Louis papers
excepted, to furnish him a copy of each issue for inspection, a failure
with which order will render the paper libel to suppression.

-----

Censorship
of the Press.--The committee on the Judiciary have requested of the
House of Representatives permission and authority to send for persons
and papers in order to probe to the bottom the subject of the censorship
to which the Press of the country has been subjected at Washington, and
which has reached such a pitch that comments in the nature of adverse
criticism upon acts of Departments have been suppressed.

-----

Corruption
in High Stations.—Speaking of the debate in the Senate in regard
to the alleged corrupt doings of the Secretary of the Navy, the
correspondent of the Boston Traveller says, “the disclosure and
the imputations were most painful to all who admire and expect integrity
in men who occupy official stations.” And he adds that, “as yet the
country has hardly appreciated the alphabet of the great volume of fraud
and iniquity which must shortly be opened and read by the world. Each
day furnishes a new development, and it seems as though nobody could
have anything to do with Government matters without becoming demoralized
and yielding to the temptation to steal something.”

-----

Public
Thieves.—There is no censure too strong, and no punishment too
severe, for men who take advantage of the sufferings of their country in
order to enrich themselves. Napoleon shot every dishonest contractor on
the spot, and a similar fate should be awarded to those who look upon
this war as an opportunity for making money.

THURSDAYJANUARY 16,
1862THE
FARMERS’ CABINET (NH)

THE
EXPEDITION DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI.

The
combined naval and land expedition which has started from Cairo, for the
South, is a stupendous affair, and from the means taken to make it
irresistible, we may confidently look for the most important and
glorious results to the Federal cause.The land force, if you said, who number from 60,000 to 75,000.The naval arm of the expedition is of prodigious force, and we
are inclined to think will prove the right arm of its power.The total number of boats is seventy-eight, of which twelve are
gunboats, thirty-eight mortar boats, and twenty-eight are tugs in
steamboats.The gunboats
carry fifteen guns of heavy caliber each, except the flag-ship of the
expedition, the Benton, which has been armament of eighteen guns.Seven of these boats cost $89,000 each to build.They are one hundred and seventy-five feet in length, fifty-one
feet six inches in breadth, and draw five feet when loaded.The bows and bow bulwarks consist of about three feet of oak
timber, bolted together and sheathed with the best quality of wrought
iron plates two and a half inches thick.The sides have the same sheathing, with less bulk of timber.The sides of the boats, both above and below the knee, incline at
an angle of forty-five degrees, and nothing but a plunging shot from a
high bluff can strike the surface at right angles.The boilers and machinery are so situated as to be considered
quite out of danger.The iron plating has been severely tested by shots from
rifled cannon at different distances, and has shown itself to be utterly
impervious to any shots that have been sent against it, even at a range
of three hundred yards.

The
Benton is somewhat larger than the rest of the fleet, and has a
double hull with wheels working in the recess near the stern.The whole is divided by five fore and aft bulkheads, and thirteen
cross bulkheads, making forty-five watertight compartments. Casements
extend around the whole boat, and are made of twelve-inch timber.At the knuckle on the main deck, the timber is from three to
four feet in thickness, solid.The
pilot and wheel houses are amply protected by timber and iron sheathing.The magazines, two in number, are each capable of carrying one
hundred rounds of ammunition for every gun, and afford ample room for
the necessary evolutions within them.The magazines can be flooded with water in a moment from the
main deck.The mortar boats
are built of heavy timbers, the sides of boiler iron, loop-holed for
musketry, and are so arranged that they can be used for bridges.They will each carry one fifteen-inch mortar.The mortar boats will be towed into position but tugs.

From
trial the jar caused by firing on the different boats is so slight as to
be hardly perceptible, while the craft can be moved in position easier
than was anticipated.This
fleet will no doubt meet with a formidable resistance, but the chances
are decidedly in its favor.On
this point the Cairo correspondent of the St. Louis Republican remarks:

"To
show the difficulty of getting vessels on the river, the case of the Lexington
and Conestoga, which occurred when I first came to Cairo some
months since, will demonstrate.These
boats were engaged for over three hours with several batteries, in all
twenty guns, just above Columbus and although the cannonading was kept
up vigorously by the Confederates, not a single shot took effect.A gunboat, went into action, lies with the bow up stream, in
which position it is more motionless and does not sway with the
current's action, only the stern's breadth
affords an object for its

opponent's
aim, and at a mile and a half, or even less, this appears small.At peaceful practice it would be hard to hit a similar
target, and in the heat of battle it is much more difficult.So, with all the bragging and taunts of another Manassas, the
most prudent military men stoutly affirm that Columbus can and will be
taken."

In
a reconnaissance of the gunboats down the Mississippi, they found the rebels
had a small steamer, six miles above the Columbus, which, as soon as she
discovered the flotilla, steamed off for Columbus, in hot haste.

It
was found that the chain stretched across the river at Columbus, is
controlled by a steam engine on the Kentucky shore, which tightens or
loosens it at pleasure.To the
bottom of the chain is attached three large torpedoes, intended to explode
on concussion with the wheel of a boat.All of the rubble vessels, with the exception of the WaterWitch,
are below the chain, the latter vessel being light draught, can pass over
it, and consequently remains above to reconnoiter.

When
the Federal gunboats approached Columbus day could plainly see the batteries
at that place.While the
artillerists stood at the guns ready to fire, and the whole Confederate
force were under arms.

With
this formidable armament, and a force of 75,000 men, the onward march must
be comparatively resistless.The
progress of the flotilla will probably be by the Mississippi to Columbus and
Memphis; by the Tennessee to the mouth of Sandy river, and by the Cumberland
river to Nashville.Within a
few days we shall make history fast.

-----

Our
Bed Rooms.--Our bed rooms are too often fit only to die in.The best are those of the intelligent and affluent, which are
carefully ventilated; next to these, those of the cabins and farm houses,
with an inch or two of vacancy between the chimney and the roof, and with
cracks on every side through which the stars may be seen. The ceiled and
plastered bed rooms, where too many of the middle classes are lodged, with
no apertures for the egress or ingress of air but the doors and windows, are
horrible.Nine tenths of their
occupants rarely open a window, and less compelled by excessive heat, and
very few are careful to leave the door ajar.To sleep in the tight 6-by-10 bed room, with no aperture admitting
air, is to court the ravages of pestilence, and invoke the speedy advent of
death.

-----

Productiveness
of California.--California is a wonderfully productive State.Cattle have got to be so numerous as to be almost worthless, and
every kind of fruit and farm produce is abundant and cheap.During the autumn, full grown fat cattle have been sold for $3 to $5
per cwt.; horses from $10 to $50; hogs at all prices; sheep from 75 cents to
$1.50.Contracts for good fat
beef with the necks and legs cut off, had been made for the army at $1.50
per 100 pounds; and still, such are the facilities for raising stock in that
climate, money can be made at the above prices.Good, clean barley, and 100 pound sacks, is selling at $15 per ton.Wheat at $30 to $35 per ton.Excellent
grapes, at $20 to $30 per ton.Potatoes
this year are unusually high, and their having been but a short supply
planted.They sell at 2½ cents
per pound, twice as high as grapes.

FRIDAYJANUARY 17,
1862THE
BARRE GAZETTE (MA)

FROM
THE MISSISSIPPI EXPEDITION

Cairo,
Jan. 10.--The greater portion of the troops are already embarked.The expedition is not expected to leave before to-morrow.It is understood that Generals Paine and McClernand will be in
command of the forces from here and Bird's point, and Generals Smith and
Wallace of those from Paducah.

Chicago,
Jan. 10.--A special dispatch to the Evening Journal from
Cairo says that the expedition has commenced moving, and a large portion
of the force had already gone down the river.It is under the convoy of the gunboats Essex and Lexington.The expedition will probably land at Jefferson, five miles
below Bird's Point.The
remainder of the expedition is being rapidly embarked and will sail
to-morrow.

The
special dispatch to the Times, dated 9th, says the advance of the
expedition, composed of McClernand's brigade, and landed eight miles
down the river, at the mouth of Mayfield Creek, on the Kentucky side,
where their tents were pitched for the night. Gen. Grant and staff went
down during this afternoon and returned at dark.The remainder of the force moved in the morning.

St.
Louis, Jan. 10.--the Cairo correspondent of the Republican
telegraphs that the great expedition is ready to start.All the soldiers and most of their wagons had embarked on the
steamers, which will leave as soon as the dense fog which now things
over the river is dispelled.The
troops are in highest spirits, and impatient to be off.The fleet will ascend the Tennessee River some distance, but the
final destination is not known.A
considerable body of cavalry will start at the same time from Bird’s
Point, and proceed through Kentucky joining our army at the point of
debarkation on the Tennessee river.

-----

Reporters
in a Fix.--The following an extract from the Traveller, will explain
the cause of so little information touching the Burnside expedition
before the public:

Gen.
Burnside has quartered in the reporters who are to accompany the
expedition on board the Cossack.They
have been on board several days, and being interdicted from sending any
information for publication, the chafe at the delay they have been
subjected much to.These
knights of the pencil have formed "a mess" on board, and
purchase their own grub, the rations of the ship not being to their
taste.If they should be
killed they would probably die "game," for they live like
"fighting cocks" upon luxuries that cost them a dollar a day
apiece.By the way want an
"item" it would make for the press if a shell should one day
explode on their dinner table, and send them all to kingdom come!

-----

From
the Lower Potomac.--The Times dispatch says that Wednesday
morning several hours before daylight the Freeborn, IslandBelle, and Satellite, under direction of Lieut. Magaw,
commanding the lower department of the Potomac flotilla, shielded the
encampment of a rebel regiment, near Fookes landing, about daybreak.On the return to Liverpool Point the rain within about
three-quarters of a mile from the Aquia Creek batteries, and threw in
some thirty of forty-five second shells, with what effect is not known.The rebels made no reply.

From
South Carolina.--A Colonel of a regiment stationed at Hilton Head,
now here, says he is no doubt of his ability to take Charleston, with
his single regiment.So
great is the Southern panic that houses ten miles in the interior are
known to have been abandoned by their owners in the same condition as
Beaufort was found.

-----

Facts
About the Volunteers.--The relative proportion of foreigners and
native born in the volunteer army, at present, cannot be stated with
accuracy; but there certainly is no foundation for the loose statement
that a majority of the army is a foreign birth.From the returns of two hundred regiments, it appears that in 76
1/2 per cent of the regiments native Americans were found to constitute
the majority, and 6 1/2 per cent there was a majority of Germans, and 5
1/2 the number of native and foreign born was about equal.It is probably about the exact truth to state that about
two-thirds of our volunteer soldiers are American born and nine-tenths
citizens, educated under the laws of the Union and in the English
tongue.

The
time occupied in recruiting the two hundred regiments averaged six
weeks--the shortest period being ten days and the longest about three
months.

From
incomplete returns, the average age of the volunteers is judged to be a
little below twenty-five years, and the average age of the officers is
about thirty-four.

Of
the two hundred regiments, in fifty-eight per cent there had been no
pretense of a thorough inspection of recruits on enlistment, and in only
nine per cent had there been a thorough inspection when or after they
were mustered in.The
necessity for a vigorous inspection of recruits, the shown by the fact
that of the 1620 men discharged from the army of the Potomac during the
month of October, fully 53 per cent of the whole number or thus
discharged on account of disabilities that existed at or before their
enlistment, and which an honest and intelligent surgeon should have
detected.These men had
cost of the government at least one hundred dollars each, in the
aggregate over eight thousand dollars.

The
soldiers of the 57 per cent of the regiments have sent home to their
families a considerable portion of their pay.The men are generally disposed to send home from half to
three-fourths of their pay, if satisfied they can do so safely.

The
above statements are gleaned from a report of the Sanitary Commission,
and refer to 37 regiments from New England, 101 from the Middle States
and 62 from the Western States.

-----

Taxes.--Among
the schemes said to be before the Congressional committee on Ways and
Means are mentioned one for laying a tax of five cents on every
telegraphic message, and one for taxing railroad passengers one fourth
of a cent every mile travelled.The
latter plan would seem to be a most effective one.

SATURDAYJANUARY 18, 1862THE
BOSTON HERALD

The
Atlantic Telegraph.

Mr.
George Saward, of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, has addressed letter
to Mr. Cyrus W. Field, urging the expediency of revising the project of
the Atlantic Cable. Mr. Saward argues that the experience and
information gained by the Company in their former experiments have
served to point out the defects of the old cable.It has been found that the internal construction of the first
cable was all wrong.It
should have contained about eight times as much copper and three or four
times the quantity of gutta percha then were really employed; and the
construction of its external sheath should have been regulated, as to
specific gravity, by the depths of ocean to be encountered; and as to
its material, by the conditions of strength and indestructibility.These discoveries will, of course, render the next cable more
expensive, but this will be commercially compensated for by the fact
that instead of working at the rate of two words per minute, a due
increase in the size of the conductor will give almost any speed that
may be desired, even across the Atlantic, if the quantity of insulating
material surrounding it be proportioned to it on scientific principles.

We
cannot but believe, that if we had been in telegraphic communication
with Europe, much of the bad blood lately excited between England and
America would have been dispelled before and it brought either nation to
the menacing attitude exhibited toward us by the British people and
government.Under our
present system of communication, a plausible lie about us in England
works potentially upon the public sentiment of that country for near a
month, before it can be authoritatively contradicted.The emissaries of the South are many and active in England,
circulating the poison of falsehood and malice against the American
government, and working artfully for its ruin by other means than
sending arms and munitions of war to the rebels.In fact, it would seem that the public mind of England was fully
charged and primed, and so went off, slam bang, at the touch of the Trent
torch.Almost the whole
British public flared up with indignation.The British lion was immediately upon the rampage.
Nine-tenths of the British press, including some papers which had most
generously defended us, hurled their thunders at us; and why?Chiefly because they supposed they detected in the unauthorized
and unanticipated act of Capt. Wilkes the result of a studied purpose on
the part of our government to insult the British flag, and provoke a
war.

It
is difficult to believe that John Bull really supposed we entertained a
desire to open a new contest at this exigency, but an irascible old man
who has a gouty toe crushed must not be expected to act or talk in a
perfectly sane manner; so, for half a month the old gentleman raved upon
false premises, and prepared for war.The few thrills alongthe
wires of telegraph underlying the "grey and solitary waste" of
the sea now separating and isolating two kindred nations, might have so
informed with words of explanation and peace, as to scatter and subdue
the gathering war-storm before it should acquire resistless headway.The lack of it may cost us more treasure than would lay a
thousand telegraphs, and thousands of lives more precious than any
treasure.It may be that we
have narrowly escaped a war with England for the want of the means of
speedier intercourse.Ought
we to run the hazard of neglecting to provide those means any longer?Do we not owe it to

humanity
to facilitate intercourse between its sundered families everywhere?California felt the new glow of loyalty when she found herself en
rapport with the Atlantic States, and we all grew more patriotic at
the thought.We should love
England better, and England would love us better, if we could be brought
into telegraphic tete a tete, and be thereby enabled to exchange
frequenter tokens of goodwill, and to dispel the unfounded imputations
of unfriendliness which our mutual enemies so industriously circulate.

-----

The
Judgment of an Opponent.--The New York Journal of Commerce--the
paper which we hardly need say is not strongly partial to any of the
present a cabinet--disapproves of the system pursued by the Secretary of
the Navy in his purchases.It
adds however,

"We
presume that the custom which has been adopted by Mr. Welles in this
instance, will be discontinued hereafter.It is worthy of special remark that this is the only accusation
of wrong which has been made against the Navy Department during the war,
and that it is abundantly evident, from all the circumstances of this
case, that it was but in error of judgment, and in no manner reflects on
the personal integrity or ability of Mr. Welles."

-----

The
Savings Banks.--The Savings Banks of Massachusetts had in 1861,
deposits amounting to $44,785,438, belonging to 235,858 depositors.It is a remarkable and gratifying indication of the condition of
the Commonwealth that after a year of financial revolution and civil war
these deposits should have fallen off only $298,797.

-----

Steam
Air Cannon.--The Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate gives the
following description of a "steam air cannon," invented by a
Louisianan, which it recommends to a favorable notice by the legislature
of that State:

This
invention consists of a locomotive capable of running on common roads,
which supersedes horse-power in all draft operations, and is adapted to
either land or water.To
this is attached one or more air cannons, which, in view of the present
scarcity of powder, is a great desideratum, and as a air can be made
more effective than powder, being liable to compression many thousand
times less than its bulk.These
cannon will also have the following qualities to recommend them, viz: no
report, little if any concussion, no heating, and no smoke, of which
proves their great availability, whether placed on board of gunboats or
war ships, or used on land for river protection, where it would be most
serviceable.Along the
banks of the Mississippi the levees would protect the lower part of the
machine, while the upper is secured by its own inclined planes.

The
cannon, being breechloading, is loaded with great ease and speed; and by
being removed from the machine, the latter can be applied to making
ditches, throwing up the embankments, and can also be used as a fire
engine.

In
the open field it may well be called a flying artillery, as it could run
through any ranks, either of infantry or cavalry, and open a lane 14
feet wide.